The past: July 17th, 2014 in northern Maine

"Girl, you are so fine."

She grinned against his neck, which her face was snuggled in to. Her arms were gripping one of his arms, and her legs wrapped around his torso. She kissed a warm spot on his neck and closed her eyes. "You are amazing, Troy."

"You too, baby girl."

Troy ran his hand across her breasts, both were smooth and round, full and plump. His heart raced. He wanted more, but Gabriella didn't want any more. He had pounded her hard for at least five minutes before letting it all out, erasing all the built up sexual frustration of his teenager years into her smooth and silky virgin body. They were both virgins before this day. They didn't even have masturbation habits. This was their first time experiencing sexual pleasure of any sort. He had screwed her hard all night.

He was glad he had waited for this moment.

He felt his erection dying down, and then he threw the used sheath into the garbage.

He tired not to show that he wanted more. He wasn't going to push it with her. She meant too much to him.

He flipped back the covers and found himself dying to use the bathroom. He looked back at her with a worried look, and she giggled and nodded her head. "I'm not going anywhere, Troy."

He ran to the bathroom. It felt too good to be true. He had been given what he had always wanted. A beautiful girl, a great life, and privacy. He was welcome to make Gabriella scream as much as he wanted, since he lived in the middle of the woods.

He returned to the bedroom once he was done, and she was already dressed in her bra and underwear. He knew she was uncomfortable around him.

He pulled her by her waist and she smacked into his chest. She pushed away, a little shy. She stared down at his manhood, then back up at him. She kissed his bare chest.

"What's wrong? Are you not comfortable with me naked?"

"No baby, I'm fine with you naked. I just get this feeling that they're watching me."

"Baby, they aren't anywhere near here. They can't find us."

He began to dress himself, and she retreated to the safety of the window. He got his boxers and jeans on, then stopped. He stood there, staring at his girlfriend's slender figure, shadowy by the breaking dawn through the window. She was almost like a statue. He could tell there was something wrong. Gabriella was always a happy person, but there was really something wrong. She was never like this.

He remembered when he met her, they were just eleven years old. She was a very cute girl, and unlike the others, she was sweet. She wasn't out for the boy toy thing going around the school, but she was a loner. He asked her out twice, and the first time she rejected. The second time, she decided to try, but only with certain circumstances. They hit it off from there. They had their first date about a week after, and it was a picnic at the park. When they were twelve, they had slept at Gabriella's, then at Troy's, their first sleepover. When they were thirteen, they had their first kiss under a sky of shooting stars. Just a week ago, Gabriella had moved in with Troy. They had sex all the night before and through the morning at seventeen years of age. All throughout those years, she was a happy girl until she moved in with him. He knew that she wasn't ready for sex when he was, but she allowed it. She loved him, and he knew it, but she wasn't ready. The reality suddenly hit him. Had he taken her innocence before she wanted to give it away? Had he pushed her to do it?

"Gabriella, were you not ready to make love with me?"

She didn't move a muscle, but she spoke. "I wasn't ready, but I wanted to make you happy."

"Gabriella! You know I wouldn't want to have sex with you if you weren't ready! Baby, why didn't you tell me?"

She was quiet.

He decided that at this moment, it was best to leave her alone. He felt worse than he ever had felt before as he closed the bedroom door behind him. It was as if she was now shutting him out, regretting her decision to make him happy. He didn't want this, he wanted last night to be special.

Troy strolled through the living room and into the kitchen. He took three eggs, a quart pound of bacon, and milk from the refrigerator. He made four biscuits and threw them in the oven, while frying the eggs and the bacon on the stovetop.

Everything was finished in a matter of ten minutes. He made two plates, one for Gabriella and one for himself. Gabriella had two biscuits, an egg, and a few pieces of bacon, while Troy had the rest to himself. He accented the table with a pretty red rose in a cup of water and the morning news on TV, turned down low enough to hear but wasn't loud enough to disrupt any other noises.

Troy knocked on his bedroom door, which he never did, before slightly cracking it. He whispered her name, then realized that she wouldn't answer, so he kicked the door open all the way. He found the sight of Gabriella lying on the bed, shivering.

"Gabriella..."

In an instant, he left the room, gathered her breakfast up, and put it on a slab of wood that he used as an eating tray. He plopped down on the bed, told her to sit up, and then set the food on her lap. "Eat."

She stared at the food on her plate, then picked up the biscuit. She forced it down her throat, swallowed hard, and looked at him.

"Does it taste bad?" He asked.

She shook her head and looked back down at the plate. "I'm just not hungry-"

"We're not going through this again, Gabriella. I'm not going to watch you sit here and starve yourself."

She looked over at him, with that desperate look in her eyes. He searched her eyes, unable to figure out what was wrong.

"Why are you so good to me? Why not some other girl?"

Troy smiled at her and stroked her smooth leg. "My god Gabriella, why would I want anyone else?"

"I'm a mess..."

"Gabriella..." Troy sighed. "You just ran away from home and you're in the middle of the woods. You obviously want to go home."

She suddenly lets out a sob and she set the tray on the floor. "I just miss them... My mom and dad, you know."

He stopped stroking her leg and then broke away from her gaze. "So do I, Gabs... Listen, if you want to go back, then I'll take you home. You know that you don't have to stay here."

"But I do, I want to stay here with you."

"You don't know what you want Gabriella. First, you said you wanted to run away and live here with me. Then you said you wanted to make love, and we did. Now you're thinking second thoughts-"

The tears flowed and she got off the bed and ran out of the room. He jumped when the bathroom door slammed.

"Gabriella, why didn't you tell me..." He said to himself.

...

Gabriella had been in the bathroom all day. Countless times, he knocked on the door and tried to feed her, comfort her, or get her to come out, but she refused to even open the door. Troy was sitting on his couch, trying to decide whether or not to go to the store or to stay at home and wait until Gabriella calmed down to talk to her. He was going to get her something to say he was sorry.

He sighed, stood up, looked down the hallway, and then grabbed the door handle.

Gabriella opened the bathroom door. "Please, don't leave me..."

Her eyes were bloodshot. Her cheeks were stained red. She was shaking. Tears were still falling down her cheeks.

"I'm not leaving you, baby girl." Troy said softly. "I'll never leave you. I was just going to go to the store."

"No, don't go." She sniffled. "Stay here with me."

He looked down at his keys and began to fumble with them. He hung them up on the coat rack and turned to her. "Are you mad at me?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm mad at myself."

"Well don't be. Listen, don't listen to what I want you to do. You can't go by what a guy says all the times. I taught myself not to listen to my dick because sometimes it tells me to fuck you when I know it's not right. Well I listened to it this time because you said you wanted it. Baby girl, you are my everything. We won't ever have sex again if you don't want to. I swear on it." He opens his arms.

She walked directly into his arms and he kissed the top of her head. Automatically, she started bawling and couldn't stop.

"Are you sure you still want me?"

"Of course I want you. I love you more than anything in the whole wide world."

"I love you too, more than anything."

Troy felt as if he would violate her by touching her butt, so he put his hands under her thighs and hoisted her up. Her arms and legs went around him and squeezed tightly, and he carried her into his bedroom. He set her down on the bed.

He tucked her hair behind her ears and kissed the tip of her nose. "Does it hurt?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"What about your head?"

"A lot."

"Anything else?"

"I'm a little sore all over."

Troy climbed into bed and pulled her up beside him. He pulled her close and began to knead through her hair, playing with it, soothing her rough headache. What really confused Troy was the fact that she was so unhappy. She was never unhappy. Every time he saw her, she was either really happy from the day's events or happy to see him. Now, she was a glob of sadness that moped around the house all day, barely ate anything he offered her, and someone that is like a shadow of their true self.

Or was her happy self just a cover up for all this sadness? He had a bad feeling that she never was a happy person, but that she was hiding her real feelings.

"Why have you been so unhappy lately? Are you just upset that you ran off with me or is it something more than that? And don't lie, because I'll know if you are."

"No, I've just had it rough lately. It's not you, Troy. Really, it isn't."

He ran his fingers through her hair. "Can you tell me?"

She shook her head. "No, it's kind of personal. But I love you, and I don't want you to think anything less of me."

"Never." Troy kissed the back of her head. "We might as well get some sleep. We're in for a long day tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Graduation."

Troy and Gabriella's school were graduating a year early because they had all their credits finished. They are on their own for a year until college.

"Well, night baby." Troy kissed her neck and rubbed her shoulder.

"I love you." Gabriella rolled over and stared into his eyes. "I mean it."

"I love you too. Now let's go to sleep."

The lamp was turned off, and they fell asleep in each other's arms.